Adib Fricke - The Spaceship (A Film in Words)

The Spaceship
A Film in Words

»A young research scientist«, »Spiders...ants and beetles«, »In the middle of the desert«, »The hatch of the spaceship opens«, »Crrrrr...CLACK!« ...

A film in words for you to imagine - »The Spaceship« first appeared in 1989 as a video of approximately 5 1/2 mins length.

The Spaceship

((Text list »The Spaceship« - An experimental film in words))Starry skydarkdark,
because in space
everything is dark
but the starsa spaceship spaceship spaceshipaceshi The spaceship is floatingIn the foreground
the spaceship
is floatingby....PortholesAn unidentified
creaturewaves
from the window
of the spaceship.If you want you can
wave back.It isn’t waving
at you, it’s waving
at its friends
on its
home planet.Home
Home
Homemoon
the earththe
blue
planetdoing
elliptical orbitsthe earth in section: a desert
(uninhabited)The spaceship
is landing.has landed.
Bang!Clouds of dustblazing sun
The desert is
hot.Nearby,in a small ditch:on the groundspiders,ants
and
beetlescrrrrr...awlingA young research scientistis collecting insects.High Noon.Suddenly!The young scientist
discoversthe spaceshipa spaceshipin the middle
of
the
desert. He has never
seen anything
like it. What would you do? a) run away
b) cry for help
c) go over to the spaceship
and say »hello« He packs! Jars
with insects He packs:
insects into jars,
jars into a bag. Chirp,
chirp,
zip.The young scientist in the car lonely country road away!Representatives
of other countries ...in
black
limousinesThe hatch of the spaceship tss-tsipp opens Crrrr,
Clack!Paper boys shouting
themselves
hoarseUuueefffoooos!have landedBeeeep, BeepBeep,
Beeeeep Atrocities!BeepBeep,
Beeeeep National
emergency!Beeeeep.Oh, ...
devastating cruelty cruel devastation,
oh ...Grrrrrr!
TssTssTss
Grrrrrr!Cars are driving, people are running.BeepBeep,
Beeeeep,
BeepBeep.Crowds
of people!fleeing.driving driving running driving
driving running driving driving
running driving driving driving
driving running driving driving
driving driving running driving
driving driving driving running
running driving driving driving
driving running driving drivingThe creatures, they
exit
the spaceship and inspect
the desert.The research scientist
drives
as fast as he can little houseand reaches
the little house, ... in which he
lives with his
girlfriend."I" ""I saw""I saw
a spaceship
land in the
desert!""in the desert"his girlfriend She doesn’t believe him.a telephone100 miles
awayIt rings three times.The old professor recalls
an old story:"Many years ago""when I
was in the desert" "collecting
insects,"unbearable
heat1"Giant spiders!""... that I
believed"bigger
than me ..."I saw""giant spiders,
bigger than me""have seen!""with legs as long as
telegraph poles"Evening falls
earlier.The scientist ...... and his girlfriend ...... drive to the place
where the spaceship
landed.They driveand driveand reach
the place ...where ...the place
where the spaceship ...There’s not a thing to be seen!Nothing!Nothing![black screen] Translation from German (Das Raumschiff) by Catherine Nichols.
Copyright 1989, 2003 by Adib Fricke. All rights reserved. Please, enable Java-Script in the preferences menu of your browser
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